In many modern applications, semiconductor chips generate a substantial amount of heat during operation. This heat must be effectively dissipated away from the semiconductor chip to maintain the operational temperature of the chip at acceptable limits. For this reason, heat sinks are often secured to an exterior surface of the packaged device. Heat sinks are configured to extract hear from the packaged device and to efficiently dissipate the extracted heat, thereby lowering the temperature of the packaged device.
In some applications, the interface between the heat sink and the outer surface of the package can be a source of inefficiency. This interface can be substantially thermally resistive, which decreases the ability of the heat sink to extract heat from the packaged device.